Dukeries estates excel

In mid-May, Farmers Club Chairman, Anne Chamberlain, led a group of sixty members of the Club on a visit to the Dukeries area of Nottinghamshire to discover how modern farming and estate management was turning back the years and providing a 21st century boost to the rural economy.

The visit was centred on three estates – Thoresby and Welbeck, two of the original four Dukeries estates, and Hexgreave, the modern estate of Tony Strawson with its nearby Strawson family potato and vegetable business. Grateful thanks go to Mike Jackson, host at Laxton Open Fields, Nick Brown at Thoresby, Robin Brown and Rob Mayo at Welbeck, and Tony Strawson, Helen Bates and Mark Strawson at Hexgreave.